break the silence open wide
by Mia-Zeklos
Summary: "Having back-up from the Institute was always tricky, no matter what the mission consisted of. Magnus had known that when he'd taken Jace with him. He always knew that when he took Jace came with him. But sometimes it was inevitable."


**Notes: Written for the prompt 'when words aren't enough'. I'm still a bit new to this ship, so I'd love to know what you think!**

Having back-up from the Institute was always tricky, no matter what the mission consisted of. Magnus had known that when he'd taken Jace with him. He _always_ knew that when he took Jace came with him.

But sometimes it was inevitable.

Summoning demons was illegal. It wasn't just that; it was death penalty-worthy in the eyes of the Clave. It was also Magnus's only option if he wanted to find out what kind of demon venom had been the one that had managed to poison even a vampire, so he'd done it. It hadn't helped much; he still hadn't been able to make an antidote in time because of how quickly the poison was spreading. All in all, it hadn't been the best day.

When he'd delivered the news to the clan, his words had been faced with quiet acceptance with one exception – his patient's wife, who had been the one to call Magnus for help in the first place. She'd been angry, understandably so, and Jace's presence was the only thing that had stopped her from attacking immediately. Minutes later, when Magnus had told her the entire story – how he'd tracked down the demon but hadn't been able to find a cure – even the fear of the Clave hadn't been enough to hold her back. Magnus supposed that it was the knowledge of how _close_ she had been to having him back and no apologies or condolences would be enough to comfort her. She'd lunged at him before Magnus had had the chance to shield himself with his magic, he felt a hand push him back and then the nauseating sound of a seraph blade tearing into flesh.

And just like that, she was gone.

There was little else to settle after that. She had been the first to attack. Jace had been there to see it and even if someone else from the clan dared to complain, their word against a Shadowhunter's wasn't worth much. Magnus disapproved of this state of things on principle, but he didn't have it in him to ponder it just now; not after said Shadowhunter had saved his life.

Not that he'd expected anything else, of course. It didn't matter how many time he'd told Jace that he was perfectly capable of defending himself; he still jumped in front of him in the face of any threat.

They left as soon as the dust had settled and Raphael had managed to get his subordinates to calm down as much as possible. Jace was quiet, only responding with a quick 'anytime' when Magnus thanked him. It was highly unusual, but Magnus blamed it on him being tired; after all, he'd sat through the entire process of summoning the demon and had helped where he could. He didn't have the gift of magic to work with, so it was bound to be much more exhausting for him.

It was only when Magnus realised that the Shadowhunter couldn't keep up with him that he started getting worried.

"Jace!" he exclaimed when Jace's knees buckled and he leant against the nearest wall. "What's going on?" he demanded, lowering his voice to draw as little attention as possible. I was two in the morning, but there were still people wandering about and the last thing they needed was someone calling an ambulance.

"I think-" Jace's eyes weren't completely focused; a sure sign that something was very, very wrong. "I didn't think she'd reached me but-"

Magnus didn't need to hear anything else. Without even looking, he snapped his fingers to open a portal getting Jace up to his feet so that they could step through it and into the loft.

He did his best to be gentle as he pushed Jace onto the sofa, unbuttoning his jacket to get to where the wound probably was. There was only a slit in the jacket itself, presumably by a claw, but under it things looked much different. Jace's shirt was soaked with blood and sticking to his skin. He groaned when Magnus peeled it away but didn't flinch, familiar enough with injuries like this to know that he had to keep still.

"I'm fine." He tried to reach for his stele, but Magnus slapped his hand away.

"You're an idiot," he informed him. "Why didn't you tell me you were in pain?"

"I wasn't," Jace insisted. "I just felt-"

"Don't speak." Magnus could feel that he was very close to snapping, and that wouldn't be a good idea in Jace's current state. "Just stay still."

A scratch from a vampire was much different from a bite. It numbed the pain for just long enough for the person not to notice and Magnus was sure that she'd done it on purpose; a last attempt at revenge even as she'd realised that she'd be dead as soon as she attacked him. Somehow she'd figured out that Jace would be the one to face her and she'd done as much damage as she'd been able to.

There was only once cure for the trace a vampire could leave in a Shadowhunter and it would be painful. Not that it _mattered_ ; Magnus already knew that he didn't have a choice.

 **o.O.o**

"Drink."

A glass of water was pressed against Jace's lips and he gulped it down gratefully, flinching away as soon as it burned a trail down his throat.

"What is this?" he croaked as he felt the same liquid being poured over his wound.

"Holy water," Magnus said, handing him another glass. "Drink."

"I don't think that actually works, Magnus," he protested. The Warlock didn't bother with a reply and Jace knew that he didn't need to – the fact that it was hurting him so much was enough to mean that it was working. "Where did you get it from?"

"I stole it from the church nearby."

Jace wasn't sure if Magnus had actually said that or if he was just delusional enough to imagine Magnus admitting to stealing holy water from a church, but he wasn't too eager to question him right then. Instead, he tried to distance himself from the pain as he kept drinking the water that Magnus continued to hand him until he was finally lulled by the warmth of the Warlock's magic washing over him.

 **o.O.o**

When Jace woke up, he was alone. He could hear the faint sounds of someone walking around the kitchen so he knew that Magnus was there, but he couldn't bring himself to move.

He quickly assessed his surroundings and realised that he'd been moved to the bedroom at some point. It made sense – treating injuries on the sofa wasn't exactly a great idea – and he sat up, wincing when his muscles contracted and the pain started anew. It was duller now, as if it was a regular wound instead of vampire venom and Jace suspected that Magnus had continued applying both the holy water and his magic long after he'd passed out.

Magnus must have heard him moving because he appeared in the doorway as soon as Jace tried to get out of bed.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine." Jace recalled saying that a few times last night too, doing whatever he could to assure Magnus that things hadn't been as bad as they'd actually been. It didn't look like he'd made his point; his chest was wrapped up in bandages anyway. "Better," he amended when Magnus just narrowed his eyes at him.

"I'd hope so." The Warlock sat at the edge of the bed as if he was still trying painfully hard not to cause Jace any further discomfort. "You should be completely clean from the poison by now, but the wound hasn't healed completely. What were you _thinking_?"

"I was thinking that I couldn't let you get hurt while I just stood by." Jace wasn't sure from where he'd gathered the strength to make his voice this icy, but it didn't seem to have any effect whatsoever on Magnus.

"How many times do I have to remind you that I can take care of myself?" Jace didn't think Magnus expected an answer and he was proved right a moment later. "I don't need you to risk your life for me. It's much more precious to me than the tiniest fraction of my magic that would have been necessary to throw that vampire off me."

Jace couldn't think of anything to say in response. In theory, he knew that Magnus was right, but in practice, he could never really _know_ anything when it came to sudden outbursts of violence. He hadn't had enough time to think and he'd done the only thing that had felt right.

"I'm sorry," was all that he managed, even if he didn't completely mean it.

"Don't get me wrong," Magnus said, smiling softly as he shuffled closer on the bed. "I appreciate what you're doing but sometimes I just wish you wouldn't."

"I'll do my best." When it came to this, his best wasn't actually all that impressive, but he thought that maybe Magnus needed to hear it. There was a lot Jace could have said to what the Warlock had told him, both in protest and in explanation, but he refrained from it. Words had always been one of his most effective weapons and yet he couldn't come up with any now; or at least, none of them could fit right.

But he didn't _need_ them to. The realisation came as soon as he figured out that Magnus wasn't about to say anything else. He wasn't sure whether it was because he thought that Jace was too exhausted to have a meaningful discussion or because he didn't have anything else to say, but it didn't really matter because all he did was lean closer and sit down next to Jace, running a hand over his shoulders in reassurance.

"I know."

It meant everything and nothing at all at the same time, and for now, Jace didn't mind settling for that.


End file.
